Dempsey Gives His Opinion Of Marciano

[Bronson66]

Copied from a friends post on another forum..

An interesting quote by Jack Dempsey:

'Though he has whipped everyone he has faced, compared with the champions of the past, Rocky Marciano is hardly more than a second-rater. I don't think Marciano is great. I hate to say so because The Rock is a fine man, honest, clean-living, ambitious, one of the nicest guys you want to meet. But in my book he couldn't carry the bucket for some champions of the past.'

“Dempsey told Kofoed that he thinks John L. Sullivan would have beaten Marciano, Jim Corbett would have outpointed Rocky, Bob Fitzsimmons would have scored a technical knockout, Jim Jeffries would have flattened Marciano, Jack Johnson would have KO’d Rocky, Jess Willard would have outpointed Rocky, Gene Tunney would have won on technical knockout, Max Schmeling would have beaten Marciano, so would Jack Sharkey, while Max Baer would have KO’d Rocky. Joe Louis, in his prime, would have stopped Marciano.”

“Of the former champions Marciano would have beaten, Dempsey lists Marvin Hart, Tommy Burns, Primo Carnera and Jim Braddock.”

“Dempsey lists the faults which he thinks detracts from Marciano. Among them are Rocky’s clumsy footwork and lack of boxing skill. Rocky’s build; 5’10 and a reach of only 68 inches, is against him, Dempsey says, and he has to get in close for a punch. Having no boxing skill, he is easy to hit as he wades in, Dempsey points out.”

“All in all, it is not a very complimentary picture which Dempsey paints of Marciano, but observers will agree that most of it is true.”

- Jack Dempsey
St Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri) - Tuesday 23rd August 1955

[solidman]

Marciano would have beaten Dempsey in my opinion. He had better stamina than Dempsey.

[Anomalocaris]

It is an unfortunate trait amongst many fighters to trash the current champions in favour of the 'good old days' when they fought.

Bores the f*** out of me.

[Bronson66]

Marciano would have beaten Dempsey in my opinion. He had better stamina than Dempsey.

Whether he would have beaten him is personal opinion,but Dempsey had no trouble going 15 rds,when he had to,he just didn't have to very often.

[Anomalocaris]

I think Jack could have stopped Rocky on cuts after a brutal battle.

[billeau2]

Going by any rational analysis Marciano was a freak of nature. How could Jack be complimentary? Looking at it from a fighter's perspective makes it very hard to compliment Marciano. As far as who could beat Marciano by any reasonable account again, we are led to a conclusion similar to jack's. Does not mean one has to take such an opinion but it is worth considering when we evaluate Jack's POV.

[billeau2]

I often like to think how Goldman introduced Marciano! "Guys! I've got this fighter! You will not believe it! He's got two left feet, the reach of a midget, not particularly big, but... "

[billeau2]

Marciano would have beaten Dempsey in my opinion. He had better stamina than Dempsey.

Would be a very interesting fight. Not sure Dempsey ever fought a guy who could hit like Marciano. Although Marciano wasn't a puncher of per se... And for his part I don't think Marciano ever fought a guy who could match energy level during a clash especially. Marciano often could keep coming after an exchange whereas Dempsey wouldn't let him have this opportunity I don't think.

Could not tell you who would win this though Even could not venture a solid opinion.

[Mr Mitts]

Personally, I think he has a few on his list Marciano would beat. Willard, Sharkey and Schmeling would also be beaten by the Rock, and probably Fitz as well, and maybe Baer. Dempsey had to make Willard look tough. Maybe he was tough, but I don't think he beats Marciano; his offense was a slow jab and occasionally something else.. Hell, Rock likely would beat feather-fisted Braddock too.

Wow! He even has Sullivan ahead of the Rock. In other words, he has virtually every champion who is any good at all ahead of the Rock, feather fists and all--that is old timer bias, isn't it? He never saw Sullivan fight. He is going strictly by reputation implanted by his own elders. The only thing he gives Rocky credit for is being a nice guy who lives clean. He even calls him a second rater.

Dempsey's perception is very good for the Rock's faults but blind to his merits. Very interesting to know Jack's point of view though. It is a tradition for old timers to slander the champions that come after.

[BKM-]

Going by any rational analysis Marciano was a freak of nature. How could Jack be complimentary? Looking at it from a fighter's perspective makes it very hard to compliment Marciano. As far as who could beat Marciano by any reasonable account again, we are led to a conclusion similar to jack's. Does not mean one has to take such an opinion but it is worth considering when we evaluate Jack's POV.

The best heavyweight I have laid my eyes upon was either Lennox lewis or Muhammad Ali, and the latter had nothing but positive things to say about the man. Whether that was influenced by other factors at the time is up for debate, but Ali called it like he saw it as he had criticism for certain greats(Louis, Baer, Dempsey) and compliments for others like Rocky, Tunny, Johnson, Liston etc.

Jack Dempsey comes across very poorly in this statement. Partly because he should have been able to spot Marciano's techniques as he was good at some of those skills himself. The crouching and the angles, and the so called 'clumsy footwork' was actually him always planting his feet well to deliver his power punches. The famous Suzie Q had great form.